Should you match different types of water to your meal?

CLIENT: Brita Australia
PUBLISHED: Brita Blog
ORIGINAL ARTICLE: Should you match different types of water to your meal?
CREATED: July 2017
AUTHOR: Daniel Dasey

Few people know water like Arno Steguweit – one of the world’s first water sommeliers. In a 13-year career, he has tasted hundreds of water varieties. His advice on choosing the right water for your meal may surprise you…

Should you match different types of water to your meal?

Few people know water like Arno Steguweit – one of the world’s first water sommeliers. In a 13-year career, he has tasted hundreds of water varieties. His advice on choosing the right water for your meal may surprise you.

We’re all familiar with the concept of matching different wine varieties to different foods to bring out the best flavours in both. But what about matching different types of table water to wines?

The type of water you choose to drink with your wine can heavily influence the tasting experience. “The more carbonation a water has, the more it tends to open the papillae tasting-structures on your tongue,” says Arno Steguweit, a world-renowned water sommelier based in Berlin, Germany.

“This means that tannins and acidity have more influence on the palette. If you taste a wine after drinking a carbonated water and a still water, you have two different wines you can describe.”

Having tasted hundreds of mineral and sparkling water varieties in a 13-year career, there’s not much Steguweit doesn’t know about water. So what water should you match to your wine? “You should drink red wine with a still water, but sparkling water can help less acidic wines like chardonnay become a little livelier. Mildly carbonated waters work well with more acidic white grape varieties like sauvignon blanc and riesling.” Steguweit recommends.

While Steguweit pairs water with wine, he does not go as far as matching water varieties with food. “That’s just nonsense,” he says. People should drink the type of water they like with a meal, based on their preferences for things like carbonation and mineral content, he says.

But you can influence your whole evening and dinner by choosing the right water. “For a meal choose something with a lower level of carbonation or a flat water because I want to rinse my palette in between courses to prepare for the next course and to reflect on the wine as positively as possible.”

BRITA understands the importance of water too when it comes to meal occasions. The BRITA Professional Bottling System dispenses premium still and sparking filtered water in some of Australia’s favourite restaurants and cafes.

Tim Bonaguro from BRITA Australia says water plays an important role in the HORECA channel.

“What we hear most often is restaurant owners wanting their customers to walk away with a memorable culinary experience. It drives word of mouth and repeat business. By offering BRITA at just a few dollars per bottle, it means diners can complement their meal with crisp, sparkling water rather than tap water which can be affected by chlorine. It’s not something they expect, so it really adds to the overall dining occasion.”